Shanghai Day 9
Day 9 of our trip has been jam packed full!
After an early start to get ready for our first performance in our brand new costumes, we arrived at our destination for our first performance in shanghai.
Here to the excitement of many team members, we were greeted and escorted by a team of security guards. Wherever we went, they followed, stopped traffic for us and even pushed old ladies out of the way! As Lewis said 'I tots feel like Gaga'. Whilst warming up for our performance we were surprised be caught up in the middle of a protest against japan. Once the whirlwind protest moved on, it was time to preform. To our disappointment our first performance didn't go as well as planned with a tiny stage for our large team and music problems. However, after being escorted to our next destination by the security guards, we arrived feeling like celebrities. Our second performance came together beautifully with our gold kilts swinging on a big wooden stage and the music continuing through our performance. A large crowd cheered once we had finished our 20 minute set. After a spot of shopping and a stop at a starbucks for the coffee deprived, we all headed towards the harbor for lunch.
After yet another Chinese lunch we all hopped back on the bus and headed to Shanghai Zoo. The zoo was definitely a highlight of the day with everyone being able to see some real live pandas and white tigers! Almost all team members left the zoo with panda bear toys as a reminder of the huge yet adorable pandas we just saw.
Back at the hotel there was enough time for a quick rest and costume change before heading off to our performance spot for the night. On arrival, we were pleasantly surprised to see acts from other counties were also there. We were taken to our seats where a whole bunch of goodie bags were waiting for us.
First we performed 'Thistle and the Fern' which sounded fantastic with the Chinese voice over. As the boys were getting ready for their next dance, we were stopped and told that we would not be allowed to perform the rest of our dancers. Thankfully Robyn managed to talk some sense into them and we were allowed to finish our set once all the other acts had performed. We all returned to our seats to watch some Chinese modling, Bollywood dancing and some very interesting samba dancers from Finland. By the time it got to the second to last act of the night, the Italian comic band, almost all the the audience had left! We all ended up dancing to the Italian band in front of the stage and we made sure we were the best audience we could be for them. As there was no one left to watch us, we decided to just leave and head on to dinner. We arrived at the restaurant at 9.30 to find that we were the only customers there and that they were staying open for us!
On the way back to the hotel, we all released our inner pop stars by having a sing-a-long in the bus.
It's been a very long day with a couple more team members falling ill, having to dance in extremely hot conditions and we all learnt new things about some team members for example, did you know that youth rep Kate Wills can rap??!
We are all looking forward to our final performance tomorrow at the Pearl tower!
Goodnight from Shanghai!
Emma D and Nicole Harvey
